D&D 5E 5E's versatile spellcasting

[jadrax]

Personally I prefer the anti (or Black) Porcerer class: turning pointless arcane energy into nice crispy bacon!

Bah, in my day we had Pastamancer and Saucerer and that was enough, i Cant stand these weird new-newfangled ultra-specialized-food classes.

 

[Nikosandros]

No, that would be the new Porceror class. Their ability to turn crispy sizzling goodness into raw eldritch power is both legendary and delicious.

What a terrible idea! You just don't waste bacon like that!

 

[ccooke]

The 5e spell slot system is really (in effect) a variant, non-fungible, non-uniform spell point system.
Yes, I admit I'm posting this partially because I don't have an excuse to use the word 'fungible' often enough

 

[Ruin Explorer]

While this has been touched on in many threads, I think it deserves its own.

At will casting, both through cantrips and rituals, as or more generous then 4E. Hybrid prepared/spontaneous casting. And, if that was not enough, spells that can be spontaneously cast at different levels.

Discuss...

Depends if you're looking at Full Casters only or all who used magic. If looking at the former, it is indeed as/more generous than 4E. If looking at the latter, it's vastly more restrictive (based on current evidence, which is relying on October playtest to some extent).

The really big difference between 4E and 5E is Ritual Casting, for me. In 4E, Ritual Casting is a Feat, and some classes get it for free, and it lets you cast any Ritual which you know (assuming you have the appropriate associated skill and components needed). Any character who doesn't get it for free can buy it (though they will also need the appropriate skills to cast the Rituals, and to learn the Rituals themselves, and so on).

Whereas in 5E, as of what we know right now, Ritual Casting is limited solely to what might be called "Full Casters", i.e. classes who focus largely on magic and have a full casting progression - Bard, Cleric, Druid and Wizard in the October playtest (and we know Cleric and Wizard remain the same on this in the Basic rules).

Even classes which can cast spells which are available as Rituals, but aren't those classes noted above, can't use Ritual magic (as of the October playtest).

Of course I'm really hoping this is just a "No PHB yet" thing, and we'll see a Feat which allows you some form of Ritual Casting - probably along the lines of "Pick a class, you can cast Rituals they can cast, but you have to learn each one and cast it from a Ritual Book which is like a Wizard's Spellbook" (I imagine that there would need to be other limits too - maybe make the "minimum level" to cast a Ritual 1 higher than the level of a full-caster PC to cast said Ritual).

ANYWAY, ignoring Ritual Magic, yes, it's pretty awesome. Spell slots feel very slightly more meta-game-y but somehow less bizarre than the "vanished from your memory" spells of yore. Cantrips are very well done this time out. I am disappointed that only Full Casters have them, but perhaps that's another Feat option? I wouldn't see 3-5 Cantrips from a specific class' list as being too much for a Feat, myself.

4E shows me that cantrips are unlikely to be abused - honestly, pretty much anything you can do with them by spamming them, you can do with a barrel of smokepowder or people hitting the object or setting stuff on fire or the like, so I'm not too concerned there. I do think several minutes of spamming might warrant a check of some kind, but I think it's unlikely to come up.

EDIT - If I just look at Wizards, this would definitely be my favourite version of them and their magic in any edition of D&D. Clerics I kind of preferred 4E, not out of strong feelings, but somehow the AEDU paradigm really worked with the idea of divinely-provided powers for me, whereas a spell slots seems a bit... prosaic. Not a big deal though.

 

[TerraDave]

You seem to be concerned that casters are overpowered now. ...

No, the non-casters also get cool things, but thanks for your post.


If I was concerned, it would be the flexibility. Creative players will get a lot out of this system. This is not bad, but it will keep the DM on his or her toes.

 

[TerraDave]

...
The really big difference between 4E and 5E is Ritual Casting, for me.

I tried to run a "ritual friendly" 4E game. But even with encouragement from my side, I still felt that,with a few exceptions, out of combat magic had been too toned down. And we know that in some campaigns, rituals where hardly used at all and utilities where pretty much all for combat.

I think rituals plus the flexibility of the system will really open the door to non-combat magic. In 3E and earlier, preparing something that had a non-combat use had a very high opportunity cost. (A possible exception is higher level characters with lots of low level slots...but those characters could dominate in all sorts of circumstances) Now, you just need a few combat spells, and the rest can be utility ones, to be used at just that right moment. Spells that cover both (charms...) also do well. Rituals on top of this should make things especially interesting.

 

[Nebulous]

One thing I might have wished ported in from Arcana Unearthed: the ability to break apart and combine spells slots. Break a third level slot into a 2nd and a 1st, or 3 1st. Combine a 1st and 2nd into a single 3rd level slot. Something like that.

I also loved the idea of common, uncommon and rare spells from that product, as a way of highlighting and limiting the potentially game-breaking spells. (In that product, everyone got common spells, only certain classes got uncommon ones, and you had to spend a feat to learn a single rare spell.

I can totally see a future supplement doing something like that.

 

[Xodis]

I can totally see a future supplement doing something like that.

Probably be in the DMG, since it was quoted as being very similar to Unearthed Arcana of 3x. Hell, I heard Thac0 is in the DMG so this wouldn't be too far fetched lol.

 

[WayneLigon]

Teleport was 5th level, and now is 7th, and there is no teleport without error.

I hope many of these things don't get added, replaced or overturned in the first magic supplement.

 

[Daern]

Rituals

Rituals never got used in my 4e games, but have already been used in the two sessions of 5e I've played. I think the crucial part is that they are on your main spell list, so you see them and think to use them. 4e Rituals were just another list on the back of the char sheet alot of the time.